-  Faculty Experts   -  News by Topic   -  News by School Search News & Info WUSTL in the News   - Powered by Google WUSTL Home Public Affairs Home University News Medical News Sports News Radio Service Business, Law & Econ Culture & Living Science & Technology Contact Information TV/Radio Studio Visiting Our Campuses Campus Images Sports photography Commercial Filming    and Photography Commercial Use of    Names and Symbols Domain Name policy Record (newspaper) Campus Calendars WUSTL News Summary Publications Online Facts, Guides & Maps		University News Contact: Gerry Everding - (314) 935-6375 gerry_everding@aismail.wustl.edu The following is an editorial published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch April 9, 2002, Pg. B7. Behind the scenes, violence benefits some Arab states By Victor T. Le Vine In the Middle East things are rarely what they seem on the surface. And a close look beneath the events of the past three weeks, in particular the new round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the flood of impassioned verbal support for Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians from Arab and European capitals, and the pressure on the Bush administration for more active involvement, all brings a much different reality to light. Victor T. Le Vine First, it is clear from what was said and published at three recent conferences -- the Arab League summit in Beirut, the "Islamic anti-terrorism conference" in Malaysia, and the Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo -- that the Arabs couldn't be more pleased to see the Israelis and Palestinians tear each other to pieces. As expected, those attending the three meetings spent most of their time demonizing Israel and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, lavishly praising Arafat and encouraging the Palestinians to keep sending teen-age suicide bombers to blow up Israelis. But they offered little of substance to the Palestinians, pretty much leaving it to them to scavenge for their basic needs. To be sure, Iran proposed another oil embargo, and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah offered a so-called "peace plan" that, when amended and watered down at Syrian and others' insistence, turned out to have no more legs than a dozen similar previous proposals. At best, the Abdullah plan allowed all attending the Beirut meeting to pose as champions of peace at no cost to themselves. Arafat and the Palestinians have few friends in the region. The past 50 years have been disastrous for them: Neither the several Arab-Israeli wars nor their leaders have delivered the promised Palestinian state. The Palestinians have languished in their hundreds of thousands as refugees, with host Arab nations using them as pawns in the conflict with Israel. At one time or another every Arab state (except Jordan) has maltreated them or expelled them in their thousands. Thus it is that the Arabs heap praise on the new "al-Aqsa Intifada" and offer lavish encouragement to the young suicide bombers because this round of deadly violence will, and indeed already has, weakened both the Israelis and Palestinians, something the Arabs could not have done by themselves. Why else would Saddam Hussein have raised his premium to the families of suicide bombers from $10,000 to $25,000? Then there are the famous Arab streets, currently awash with angry, seething crowds. Again, if you look closely, you can see Arab regimes quietly helping to fuel some of the demonstrations, welcoming the opportunity to allow the mobs to vent steam by attacking the common Israeli enemy. For an Arab world with little taste for a new war against Israel and resentful of having still to cater to Arafat and his Palestinians, a weakened Palestinian movement makes for much less demanding and much more manipulable Palestinians, and a weakened Israel is likely to be much less attractive as a strategic partner to an America hoping for a quick and deadly strike against Iraq. With all this, are the subtexts to the European pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian tilt all that mysterious? It has little to do with sympathy for the Palestinian cause, or humanitarian concern about the way Palestinians are treated in the West Bank and Gaza, but much more with four factors: Resentment against American pressure to line up and be counted in the war against terrorism. The increasing weight of Iraqi and Iranian oil on the European energy market. The political clout of the growing Muslim expatriate community. The related appearance of a new, virulent strain of the old virus of European anti-Semitism, now fed by Muslim fundamentalists. Seen from the vantage of the Arab League and the Islamic Conference, there is much good news: The Palestinians and Israelis are bloodying, and weakening, each other; the Europeans are more anti-Israeli than ever; and George W. Bush, who has now undertaken to rein in the Israelis, has stepped into the swamp of the Arab-Israeli conflict with both feet, and is thus less likely to try to attack Iraq. Who could fail to be pleased? The subtexts to the European pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian tilt hinge largely on four factors: Resentment against American pressure to be counted in the war against terrorism. The increasing weight of Iraqi and Iranian oil on the European energy market. The political clout of the growing Muslim expatriate community. The related appearance of European anti-Semitism, fed by Muslim fundamentalists. NOTES: COMMENTARY; Victor T. Le Vine is a professor of political science at Washington University, specializing in Middle East, African and terrorist studies. For additional information on Le Vine: Faculty home page: artsci.wustl.edu/%7Epolisci/Levine/ Related story: Terrorism expert discusses use of terror as a weapon, possible responses to the attacks Contact information: Victor T. Le Vine Professor of Political Science Washington University in St. Louis 314-935-5867 vlevine@artsci.wustl.edu
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